The development of this flower is very interesting. Years ago I was fortunate to capture the three stages of its life cycle in one photo (the second photo). First, the closed pod appears and inside it the flower develops: suddenly the pod opens and the yellow flower appears. During its flower stage it closes at night and on dark or rainy days, and re-opens the next day. At the final maturity of the flower it closes, and inside the pod the seeds develop, after which it opens one last time and the seed head appears to allow the wind to spread the little parachutes of seeds.
The thing about photographing wildflowers is that you have to be there when they are blooming, which means lots and lots of trips into the woods, the meadows, the trails and along the streams – sunshine or rain. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!
Last Saturday there some shrubs along the trail with pairs of red berries; Utah Honeysuckle. Then today as I was enjoying some Serviceberries (my favorite wild fruit) I noticed the seed head of a Goat’s Beard, and I realized that it is already getting into the mature time of the season.
It’s not common to see the whole life cycle of a plant displayed all at once, all on one single stalk, but that’s what this Yellow Salsify was doing this morning.
